# Andrew Dayton

> Andrew Dayton is the co-founder and CEO of Steel Wool Studios and a former Pixar senior technical director. His career connects animation production, interactive storytelling and virtual reality, from the studio’s first game Flyhunter Origins to its work on Five Nights at Freddy’s. He also has a record of teaching and lecturing in animation and design.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Steel Wool Studios
- **Organizations:** Steel Wool Studios, Pixar Animation Studios
- **Education:** School of Visual Arts
- **Known for:** Contributed to Pixar films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3 and Brave., Helped develop Pixar’s asset management system and holds a shared patent for a 3D modeling technique, according to his official biography., Co-founded Steel Wool Studios and led it as CEO.

## Career timeline

- **1994–1998** — Attended the School of Visual Arts, according to his LinkedIn education listing.
- **2002–2014** — Worked at Pixar Animation Studios; his studio biography describes twelve years as a senior technical director.
- **2012** — Co-founded Steel Wool Games, later called Steel Wool Studios; this is the founding year used by the studio’s LinkedIn page.
- **2013** — Publicly discussed developing Steel Wool’s first game while its five founders still worked at Pixar.
- **2014** — Steel Wool released its first game, Flyhunter Origins.
- **2016** — Steel Wool announced a $5 million Series A investment from HTC and expanded its VR work.
- **2019** — Served as executive producer on Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted.
- **2021** — Credited as chief executive officer on Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach.
- **2023** — Credited as chief executive officer on Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2.
- **2025** — Credited as a co-founder on Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic.

## Achievements

- Contributed to Pixar films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3 and Brave.
- Helped develop Pixar’s asset management system and holds a shared patent for a 3D modeling technique, according to his official biography.
- Co-founded Steel Wool Studios and led it as CEO.
- Taught or lectured at NYU, the School of Visual Arts, Pratt, LEGO in Denmark and the Game Developers Conference, among other institutions and events.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Studio development: Steel Wool released Secret of the Mimic on Steam PC VR with a PS5 patch. The studio continues to list Dayton as CEO.
- **2025-06** — Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic added another game to the studio’s franchise work; Dayton is credited among its co-founders.

## Links

- Website: https://steelwoolstudios.com/about/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adayton

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/andrew-dayton
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24